


Beach

by hellostarlight20



Series: Shall We Dance [9]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: (just a wee bit), Angst, F/M, Romance, Telepathy, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 12:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7268422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellostarlight20/pseuds/hellostarlight20
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He didn't know how to make things better. Luckily, Rose was very forgiving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beach

The Doctor watched Rose wander along the shoreline. Things remained strained between them since Sarah Jane and the Krillitanes…and Jack. It’d been two weeks since then, but the Doctor didn’t know how to bridge the divide.

At least they touched now. His skin ached to feel hers, his mind once more screamed in emptiness when—well, when he closed himself off.

“Why did you?” Rose asked as if she read his mind.

The fact she very well might have brought a wave of gratitude and love surging through his hearts.

The twin suns set behind her, glistening red on the horizon and casting the ocean in shades of purples. It highlighted her hair, making the honey blonde shine with the gold from the Time Vortex. Her dress, a simple white creation that flirted with her ankles and tied behind her neck, looked far more casual without her heels, and in the setting sun shone reddish-purple.

The necklace he bought her at the Abraxian Market glowed against her pale skin. He let his fingers brush the delicate pendant, the strong, titanium chain. Rose shivered and he felt it spark between them.

“I was afraid,” he admitted and took her hand. The brilliance of their contact eased through him and flared fiercely in his mind. “It—it hasn’t been months in our timeline,” he admitted.

The ocean breeze nearly swept away his words, but Rose’s head shot up and he knew she heard him. She blinked slowly, as if she didn’t quite believe him but knew he told the truth and didn’t know how to accept that.

“How long?” She licked her lips. “How long had it—has it been?”

“Nearly two years.”

“But—but it’d only been a few weeks for mum and Mickey.” Rose looked down the beach to where the party continued. Where Jack and Mickey drank and danced with the wedding party the four of them crashed.

“I didn’t—I wasn’t sure—” The Doctor sighed. “Rose, I didn’t know what to do. I was terrified. At first because I almost lost you, then I didn’t know if your…longevity I suppose, was real or wishful thinking. Or my imagination.”

He stopped and ran a hand down his face. Tugged at the bowtie tightening at his throat until it loosened and opened the top button of his white shirt. He planned to take Rose dancing here; the Surcorian sunsets were often accompanied by balls and soirées, parties and ceremonials devoted to the beauty that was the sunset and the preservation of the land. He wanted to dance with her and hopefully ease the tension still simmering between them.

“It didn’t feel like almost two years. Doesn’t.” Rose’s fingers tightened imperceptivity around his. “Felt like only a few months, three maybe. We did—I mean there was so much—” She shook her head, open and closed her mouth a couple times. “I’m glad you stayed in their timeline.”

“I kept us busy, didn’t you notice?”

“Yeah.” She licked her lips in a sure sign of nerves and barely nodded. “I did. But I thought that was more a let’s celebrate surviving the Daleks than let’s pretend we’re all not immortal.”

The Doctor rubbed his thumb along her knuckles, let their bond open fully. “I didn’t—I don’t want you to have to leave your family before you need to.” 

Rose looked up and her eyes were so clear and so open and their bond flashed through him, bright and alive and so, so Rose.

“I’m scared.” She stopped, drew in a ragged breath. “I’m scared, Doctor. I must’ve seen something when I was Bad Wolf, but—but was that only wishful thinking? My—my desire to be with you? To stay with you forever?”

He caressed her cheek, the smooth firmness of her skin, the spark just beneath the surface that connected with his soul on such a visceral level he never wanted to let her go.

“What are you afraid of, my Rose?”

“That you’ll…leave me. Grow tired of me and want to travel with someone else. Not—” she shook her head but it didn’t steady her voice. “Forever is a very long time. What if you don’t love me anymore?”

“That’s impossible.” He said it so quickly, so firmly, even the Doctor was surprised. “Rose Tyler,” he said and deliberately caressed each syllable as well as her skin. Their bond burned stronger, brighter.

“I’ve never felt like this,” the Doctor admitted, here on the beach with a party a kilometer or so away, with Jack and Mickey traveling with them. It didn’t matter. Only Rose did. “I’ve never felt like—you’re my entire universe, Rose. You mean everything to me, my Rose. I never thought I’d—”

He broke off but didn’t look away, trying to laugh it away, but the seriousness of the situation, of his confession, refused to be laughed off. So he cleared his throat and pressed his lips to hers. A soft, chaste kiss that was no more than a touch.

It burst through him. Her. Them.

“Forever’s a long time,” he continued. “You might tire of me. You’re so young, Rose, so young compared to me. You might decide to explore without me or—or experiment with—with someone else. Some ones. Forever is a long, long time.”

Rose turned and stared down the beach, edging closer to the water with every step. She kept his hand firmly in hers, and his hearts rejoiced at the simple touch.

“It is,” she allowed. “And I don’t know how I’m going to tell Mum…but.” She paused, kept walking. “And I’m sure we’ll have our fights, but…”

The water lapped at his feet and he stopped to roll his trousers a little higher. The sand shifted between his toes, pink granules bursting with the light from the setting sun. The Doctor straightened and retook Rose’s hand. Let the calmness of their bond—alive, if tempered—ground him.

“I didn’t mean to keep you out,” he admitted. “I didn’t mean to not tell you about regeneration.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“This body is so new,” he sighed. “I’ve had it only a few years, before I met you. Granted, I tend to go through regenerations faster than most Time Lords, but I thought—I honestly believed—” he sighed again and squeezed her hand. “I believed I’d outlive you in this body.”

Rose tilted her head and looked at him. “You planned to stay with me for my human forever?”

“Oh yes, Rose Tyler. I’d already wanted that. Wanted it for so long.” he shook his head. “I thought you…”

“Thought I what?” she asked in the silence of his unfinished sentence.

The Doctor took a deep breath and kissed the back of her hand. The water lapped their ankles and the music from the distant wedding drifted over them, loud and happy.

“I thought you wanted that, too. Wanted—when you kissed me that first time on Braxiq, at the art gala, I ran because I _felt_ what you wanted. The—the love you feel for me.” His voice broke but he didn’t look away.

Didn’t run.

“It was so much; more than I’d ever felt from another. More everything than I’d ever felt from anyone—more than I ever felt _for_ another being. Ever.”

Her smile started slow and blossomed wide on her lips, lightening her eyes until they shone with sheer joy. Finally, finally, she opened herself to him. All those barriers he painstakingly taught her how to build over the years they traveled (ran) and made love, fell and Rose’s love flooded him.

The Doctor held her close, hugged her tightly. Never wanted to let her go. Just having her in his arms made him whole.

“Why didn’t you trust me?” Rose asked though she didn’t close herself off again. She didn’t pull back or leave his embrace.

“I trust you with my live, lives; with my hearts.” He kissed her softly. Knew he pushed it, but needed that contact. “But—when I told you I was alone, I meant the Time Lords. I didn’t—I have friends. Sarah, the Brigadier, others…”

“Why didn’t you find one of them?” Her soft voice brushed over him. Concerned and gentle, curious but no longer angry.

The Doctor cleared his throat and looked toward the wedding party. The ocean. Finally, back to Rose’s brandy-colored gaze. She waited patiently for him, didn’t look away, didn’t back off. Didn’t close her side of the bond.

“I didn’t want to see them.” He shook his head. “They knew me before. Before the Time War, before the—the Skaro Degradations and the Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres.”

He gasped, shuddered. Tried to block out the memories, the images. Didn’t want Rose to see. But she caught his face between her hands, fingertips just brushing his temples. “Rose—please don’t—”

“It’s all right,” she whispered and looked straight into his eyes. “Show me, Doctor.”

“I don’t want to,” he admitted. “I’m afraid. I see them every night and I don’t want you tainted, scarred by my memories.”

She kissed him, softly, absolution and understanding and love. “All right. Tell me about—tell me about the Brigadier? Who is she—or he?”

“A friend. Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart.” He cleared his throat, tried to ease the memories tightening it.

“Anyone else?” She asked but it was light, curious. Not the harsh pain of meeting Sarah Jane after he hadn’t told Rose the other woman was investigating the school as well.

“I traveled with a lot of people,” he admitted. “I know I led you to believe they were all Time Lords, that I traveled only with my own people; it wasn’t intentional. Just—” he tapped his temple and offered a rueful smile.

“They were all telepathic,” Rose whispered. “When I asked, when you said…there was a—a void there, yeah?”

“Yeah. I only ever traveled with one other Time Lord. Lady. She was—Romana was a good friend.”

“I’m sorry.” She turned and hugged him. The tide came in, and the water lapped at their legs, soaking her dress and his trousers. The sun set behind her and the music grew even louder in the darkness.

And the Doctor held her. Wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder, breathed in the scent of her skin and finally felt at peace.

“Rose Tyler,” he breathed. “What did I ever do without you?”

She grinned up at him, cheeky and happy. The wind blew her hair from its braided knot and he brushed several strands from her cheeks.

“Apparently, you’ll never have to find out!” She stood on her toes and kissed him, a quick, hard press of her lips. “Tell me about her? Romana?”

He grinned and nodded. Felt another piece of his soul heal. Taking her hand, he turned in the opposite direction of the wedding and left Jack and Mickey to their own devices.

 ********  
“I demand to see pictures,” Jack said a couple days later as the four of them ate breakfast.

“Pictures?” the Doctor repeated.

Rose’s head shot up and she looked from Jack to Mickey. Even Mickey seemed to understand Jack’s non sequitur, and a knowing, slightly evil glint sparked his dark eyes.

The Doctor did not like that look. Nor the wicked grin on Jack’s face. And especially not the evil laugh Rose uttered.

“Oh yes,” she purred and leaned across the table.

And how utterly domestic was this? Breakfast with the four of them, all cozy and—

“What?”

“Pictures,” Mickey said decisively. “And I’m sure the TARDIS has a video or two, eh?”

Oh. Oh, no. “No.”

“Oh, yes,” Rose repeated and stood.

The three of them abandoned their breakfasts and went in search of… _pictures_.

“Library?” Rose asked and from his position, frozen in his seat in the kitchen, the Doctor shuddered.

“You better not,” he snapped to the TARDIS. “You better not have any videos and you damn well better have burned those pictures.

He swore his beloved ship laughed. Evilly. The lights flickered with Her humor and the Doctor swore he heard Her actually snicker.

He was never living this down. He just knew it.


End file.
